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2012 budget

PFAW staff and supporters welcomed home the Nuns on the Bus as they arrived in Washington, DC following a two-week tour through nine states. The Catholic sisters went on tour to stand in solidarity with those living in poverty and to push back against the Ryan Budget, which further enriches the wealthiest Americans while slashing vital programs that help our neediest citizens.

The nuns drove through nine states to help spread the word about how the Ryan Budget, which passed the House this year, harms the most vulnerable American families, and does so -- in the words of the nuns -- in violation of Catholic teaching.

Speakers at this afternoon’s rally condemned those in Congress who voted to perpetuate a political system that benefits the privileged few at the expense of the many, limits participation in our democracy in order to maintain an established system that protects the powerful and fails to show compassion for all people. They coined the slogan “Reasonable Revenue for Responsible Programs – the Faithful Way Forward” to illustrate the priorities they would like to see adopted by Congress to help make our communities and country more just for all.

“We think America is on the wrong track,” said Chairman of the House Budget Committee Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his budget plan passed the House on a party-line vote. “We think the president is bringing us to a debt crisis and a welfare state in decline,” he continued.

So what’s his prescription?

It turns out the GOP’s lead budget person is pushing for a debt crisis and a welfare state. Except the debt crisis would be caused by continuing to give massive tax cuts to the 1 percent and the welfare program would be for Big Oil. And one other thing: it would end Medicare as we know it.

The Ryan budget would reduce taxes roughly $400,000 a year on those earning more than $1 million annually. 62 percent of the funding for this tax cut comes from low income programs.

The Ryan budget would keep the $24 billion in subsidies to Big Oil that the Obama Administration tried to end.

The Ryan budget would transform Medicare from a system that guarantees coverage to a voucher system and raise the age of eligibility, leaving millions of seniors without affordable coverage.

The Republicans have had quite a few chances to lay out a fresh vision for America, but instead keep offering up the same misguided priorities that make the rich even richer and leave the rest of us out to dry. If Paul Ryan thinks that forcing Americans to give up our Medicare benefits while continuing taxpayer handouts to Big Oil is the “right track” for America, then we might not want to board that train.

Last month, just before adjourning for spring recess, the House passed Rep. Paul Ryan’s 2012 budget proposal. The budget, which was supported by all but four Republican House members, decimates Medicare and Medicaid, makes deep cuts to education programs and preserves every single tax cut and loophole currently enjoyed by corporations and the wealthy.

It turns out that a lot of people that voted for these GOP representatives aren’t so happy about having to sacrifice their own retirement security to make sure that the wealthiest Americans can keep on amassing wealth. Think Progress put together this video of GOP congressmen across the country spending their spring breaks trying to defend their votes to peeved constituents at town hall meetings: